Radiation patients don’t get away with it easily either, neither do those who just wait and watch their cancer, or decide to do nothing and make peace with the end of their life. We all know what’s to come, and yet do we give in?

No. We make a decision to do what we have to do.

It’s not just those in treatment who are brave either. Those surviving cancer also know what’s ahead: Every day waking up and wondering, “Is my cancer going to come back today?” “Will I see my children grow up? “Is that twinge in my back/neck/arm/leg (you name it). Just a pain or a sign that my cancer is back?”

We all know this and yet do we stay in bed, hiding under the covers? No.

Most of us realize that this is our new life and we better make the most of it. We know that we can’t live our lives in the past. We have to live in the present and make every day count.

Sure we all have bad days, when we just want to hide in the closet and cry. But we get it out of our system dust ourselves off and start living the day again.

When I have one of those days I always read the words of Tim McGraw’s song, framed in my hallway, “Live Like Your Dying.” The words speak volumes, not just for cancer survivors. It’s a message for us all.

So I realize now that I have been selling myself and my co-thrivers short, by saying in the past, “I’m not brave.”

So are those with cancer brave? You bet they are and next time someone tells me I am, I’ll say “You just made my day!”